Dolan v Corn Exchange (No 2)

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Supreme Court
• Judgment Date: 04 December 1975
• Docket Number: [S.C. No. 47 of 1974]
• Date: 04 December 1975

(S.C.)

Dolan

and

Corn Exchange

Case stated - Question of law - Appeal from Circuit Court - Whether High Court may state a second Case for determination of Supreme Court - Late evidence -Judicial discretion - Interpretation Act, 1923 (No. 46), s. 12 - Courts of Justice Act, 1936 (No. 48), s. 38.

In relation to an appeal to the High Court from the Circuit Court in a civil action at the hearing of which oral evidence was given in the Circuit Court, sub-s. 3 of s. 38 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1936, provides that the judge who hears the appeal under that section may refer any question of law, arising in the appeal, to the Supreme Court by way of Case Stated for the determination of the Supreme Court and "may adjourn the pronouncement of his judgment" on the appeal pending the determination of the Case stated by him. In answering the questions posed in a Case stated by the High Court pursuant to s. 38, sub-s. 3, of the Act of 1936, the Supreme Court ruled (a) that, in deciding whether a tenant is disentitled to a new tenancy on the ground of his landlord's intention to develop the property, the court should determine that issue in the light of the circumstances prevailing at the time of the hearing of the tenant's application for a new tenancy; and (b) that the landlord, in order to defeat the application on that ground, must prove that he has obtained the relevant planning permission to develop the property. When the appeal was resumed in the High Court, the landlord sought leave to adduce evidence of the grant to him of the relevant planning permission since the date of the Case Stated, and the tenant opposed the admission of such evidence. The High Court judge stated a second Case pursuant to s. 36, sub-s. 3, of the Act of 1936 in which he asked whether he had...